Water Cycle and Water Security Key Terms Flashcards
What is Agricultural Drought?
Refers to a situation where insufficient soil moisture affects crop growth and agricultural productivity.
What is an Aquifer?
A body of permeable rock that can contain or transmit groundwater.
What is a Blocking Anti-Cyclone?
A high-pressure system that remains nearly stationary or moves very slowly, ‘blocking’ the usual movement of weather systems.
What is a Catchment Area?
The area from which rainfall flows into a river, lake, or reservoir.
What is Channelisation?
Modifying a natural watercourse, such as a river or stream, by straightening, deepening, or widening it to improve water flow and reduce flooding.
What is Condensation?
Water vapour cooling and changing back into liquid droplets.
What is Desalination?
The process of removing salt from seawater.
What is a Drainage Basin?
The area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a river.
What is Drought?
A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall.
What is Economic Water Scarcity?
When water is available, but people can’t access it due to a lack of infrastructure, money, or effective management.
What is Evaporation?
Water changing from liquid to vapour.
What is a Flood?
An overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry.
What is a Floodplain?
An area of low-lying ground next to a river, formed mainly of river sediments and subject to flooding.
What is Groundwater?
Water stored underground in aquifers.
What is Hard Engineering?
The use of concrete and large artificial structures by civil engineers to move water around / prevent flooding.
What is the Hydrological Cycle?
The continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.
What is Hydrological Drought?
Happens when low precipitation leads to reduced water levels in rivers, reservoirs, lakes, and groundwater.
What is the Hydrosphere?
All the waters on the Earth’s surface, such as lakes and seas.
What does Impermeable mean?
Impermeable surfaces do not allow water to pass through them.
What is Infiltration?
The movement of water through the soil.
What is Interception?
The process by which precipitation is caught and held by vegetation, buildings, or other structures before it reaches the ground.
What is Meteorological Drought?
Occurs when there is a prolonged period of below-average precipitation, leading to dry weather conditions.
What is Over-Abstraction?
The excessive withdrawal of water from natural sources, such as rivers and aquifers, leading to depletion and environmental harm.
What is Percolation?
The movement of water through rocks.
What does Permeable mean?
Allowing liquids or gases to pass through it.
What is Physical Water Scarcity?
When there is not enough natural water available to meet people’s needs due to climate, overuse, or high demand.
What is Precipitation?
Water falling from the sky as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
What is Saturation?
When the pore spaces in a soil are completely filled with water.
What is Socio-Economic Drought?
Occurs when water shortages impact the supply and demand of economic goods, such as food and energy.
What is Soft Engineering?
The use of ecological principles and small-scale practices to reduce erosion and achieve the stabilisation and safety of shorelines and rivers.
What is Surface Runoff?
Water flowing over the ground surface.
What is Surface Water?
Water that collects on the surface of the ground.
What does Transboundary mean?
Extending across or existing on the boundaries of two or more states / countries.
What is Transpiration?
Water vapour released from plants.
What is Water Conservation?
The practice of using water efficiently to reduce unnecessary water usage.
What is Water Scarcity?
The lack of sufficient water resources to meet demand - below 1000 cubic metres per person.
What is Water Stress?
The demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period.
What is the Water Table?
The level below which the ground is saturated with water.
What is a Watershed?
An area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet.
